Method and apparatus for pollution-free charging of coke ovens

ABSTRACT

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT POLLUTION-FREE CHARGING OF COKE OVENS. DURING INTRODUCTION OF A CHARGE INTO A COKE OVEN FOM A LARRY CAR GAS WHICH ESCAPES THROUGH THE LARRY CAR CONNECTIONS TO THE COKE OVEN IS COLLECTED WITH A SUITABLE GAS-COLLECTING PIPE. STANDPIPES WHICH COMMUNICATE WITH THE INTERIOR OF THE COKE OVENS COMMUNICATE WITH A SECOND GAS-COLLECTING PIPE SO THAT ADDITIONAL GAS ESCAPING FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE COKE OVENS IS COLLECTED. THE ENTIRE SPACE OVER THE COKE OVENS IS INCLOSED AND THE INTERIOR OF THE ENCLOSURE COMMUNICATES WITH A THIRD GAS-COLLECTING PIPE IN WHICH GAS IS COLLECTED FROM THE SPACE OVER THE COKE OVENS. ALL OF THIS COLLECTED GAS IS CLEANED BEFORE BEING DISCHARGED TO THE OUTER ATMOSPHERE.

Oct. 10, 1972 KEMMETMUELLER 3,697,381

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLLUTION'FREE CHARGING OF COKE OVENS Filed Feb. 7, 1972 4 Sheets-Sheet l 1972 R. KEMMETMUELLER ,381

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLLUTION-FREE CHARGING 0F COKE OVENS Filed Feb. 7, 1972 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 UGR 9v: QWNK I bk SSQQ Q vmt m ETWR m Och 1972 R. KEMIIVIETMUELLER 3,597,331

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLLUTION-FREE CHARGING 0F COKE OVENS Filed Feb. '7, 1972 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 1972 R. KEMMETMUELLER 3, 8

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLLUTIONFREE CHARGING 0F COKE OVENS Filed Feb. 7, 1972 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent Oflice 3,697,381 Patented Oct. 10, 1972 US. Cl. 201-40 21 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatus for carrying out pollution-free charging of coke ovens. During introduction of a charge into a coke oven from a larry car gas which escapes through the larry car connections to the coke oven is collected with a suitable gas-collecting pipe. Standpipes which communicate with the interior of the coke ovens communicate with a second gas-collecting pipe so that additional gas escaping from the interior of the coke ovens is collected. The entire space over the coke ovens is enclosed and the interior of the enclosure communicates with a third gas-collecting pipe in which gas is collected from the space over the coke ovens. All of this collected gas is cleaned before being discharged to the outer atmosphere.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the charging of coke ovens.

It is well known that for many years steel-manufacturing plants have been one of the major and most objectionable sources of pollution of the outer atmosphere. Such steel plants conventionally include blast furnaces which require large amounts of coke as part of the charge thereof. The coke is distilled from coal which is charged into ovens of a coke oven battery. The operations carried out in connection with charging the coke ovens with coal form one of the major sources of pollution of the atmosphere.

Each oven of a coke oven battery is periodically charged with coal which is distilled in the oven into coke, and then the hot coke is discharged from each oven prior to charging of the latter with a new charge of coal. The gases generated within each coke oven during the distillation of coal therein form a major source of pollution. When a larry car provided with a charge of coal to be introduced into an oven is placed in connection with the latter, there is an unavoidable escape of gas from the oven to the outer atmosphere in an undesirable manner. Furthermore, additional gases in the ovens delivered to standpipes which communicate continuously with the ovens form a source of pollution. However, the space over the ovens where the coal is transported also receives a considerable amount of pollutants not only in the form of gas escaping from the ovens but also in the form of coal dust, for example, so that the space over a coke oven battery is itself a source of undesirable pollution.

A further problem encountered with operations in connection with the charging of the coke ovens resides in the fact that a considerable amount of energy is wasted due to the escape of a considerable amount of hot gas without extracting any energy therefrom. Thus, costs are undesirably increased and eificiency is reduced, because of this factor.

In addition to the above drawbacks, a further drawback is encountered in connection with spraying of the gases from the coke ovens, resulting in water which is rich in phenol. This liquid cannot be discharged into adjoining bodies of water without seriously polluting the latter, so that a considerable problem is encountered in connection with how to dispose of this liquid. At the present time this liquid is used for the wet quenching of coke from the coke ovens, giving rise to further problems in connection with loss of energy and lack of economy in the operation. While dry quenching of the coke from the coke ovens is far more desirable, it is not possible to use the advantages achieved with dry quenching because of the problem of disposing of the water which is contaminated with phenol.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for charging a coke furnace in a manner which will avoid all of the above drawbacks.

Thus, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for charging a coke oven in such a way that pollution of the atmosphere will be avoided.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for charging a coke oven in such a way that use is made of all of the available energy, thus resulting in higher etficiency and reduced costs.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for charging a coke oven in such a way that there is no problem of disposing of contaminated liquid so that it becomes possible to use dry-quenching of the hot coke.

According to the present invention gas is collected from the connections between a larry car and a coke oven as well as from standpipes which communicate with the coke ovens and from the space over the coke oven battery, and all of the collected gas is cleaned before being discharged to the outer atmosphere. Three gas-collecting means communicate respectively with an enclosure which encloses the space over the coke oven battery, with the standpipes all of which communicate with the coke ovens, and with the connections between a larry car and a coke oven, and all of the gas collected by all of these gascollecting means is cleaned prior to being discharged to the outer atmosphere.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional elevation of a coke oven installation during charging of a coke oven;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary partly sectional elevation showing further details of the charging structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side elevation of a charging apparatus and method according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective schematic illustration of the coke oven charging method and apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates one type of connection between a larry car and a gas-collecting pipe;

FIG. 6 illustrates another type of connection between standpipes and a gas-collecting pipe; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a further embodiment of a method and apparatus according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. I, there is illustrated therein, schematically in section, a coke oven 10 of a coke oven battery. The battery 12 is schematically shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 1 also schematically illustrates at the lower left a pusher 14 provided for each oven for pushing the hot coke out of the latter after the oven doors are opened, as is well known.

The coke oven battery 12 includes a top wall 16 situated over the series of coke ovens 10 which form the battery 12 and forming the top wall for the several coke ovens. This wall 16 forms a floor over the coke oven battery, and this floor is completely enclosed by an enclosure means 18 which forms a building situated over the coke oven battery, as is apparent particularly from FIG. 4.

This floor 16 supports for movement over the ovens of the battery 12 a larry car means 20 from which coal is charged into the ovens periodically, so that at any given moment the larry car means 20 is in communication with a selected one of the ovens 10, such as that shown in FIG. 1. The larry car means 20 receives coal from suitable storage bins which are not illustrated. The coal is carried by the larry car means in hoppers 22 respectively capable of communicating with a selected oven 10 by way of a pair of connection means 24. The larry car means includes an intermediate hopper 26 which may optionally be used if desired.

The ovens 10 of the battery 12 are each provided with upper openings in the floor 16, and these openings are normally closed by plugs 28, such as that illustrated in FIG. 2. When a given oven 10 is to be charged the plugs 28 are removed, and the connection means 24 are placed in communication with the oven through the openings at the top thereof. Thus, for example, each connection means 24 may include an outer elongated tubular section 30 slidable vertically with respect to an upper section 32 extending downwardly from each hopper of the larry car means. After the plugs 28 are removed the pipe sections 30 are slipped down to the position shown in FIG. 2, while in their position of non-use the pipe sections 30 are raised to the elevation shown for the central pipe section 30 in FIG. 2. The smaller pipes 32 are provided with interior valves 34 which are in the closed position shown for the central hopper 26 to retain the charge in the hopper. After communication is established with an oven through the connection means 24 the valves 34 are swung to their open positions, shown for the pair of outer hoppers 22 in FIG. 2, and in this position the charge of coal in the hoppers 22 will flow into the oven.

The shiftable pipe sections 30 of the connection means 24 are respectively connected fluid-tightly with flexible tubes 38 which in turn communicate with a pipe 40 which extends to the rear of each larry car. As is shown schematically in FIG. 3, the pipe 40 in turn communicates with a combustion means 42 in the form of a suitable enclosed chamber in which the gases are burned. The pipe 40 is supported at the rear of the larry car through any suitable framework such as that shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Above the combustion means 42 is a flexible pipe connection 44 in the form of a suitable bellows or the like. This flexible connection 44 is in turn connected with a pipe 46 having a suitable valve 48 therein.

Supported in the enclosure 18 over the larry cars is a first gas collecting means 50 in the form of an elongated horizontal pipe having a plurality of relatively short vertical pipes 52 communicating therewith and projecting downwardly therefrom. As is shown in FIG. each of the pipes 52' may have a tangential connection with the pipe 50, so that in this way the gas is introduced into the pipe 50' will have a whirling fiow which is highly desirable for some purposes, as referred to below.

Thus, with the above arrangement when a given oven is to be charged, the plugs 28 closing the charging openings are removed and the connection means 24 are manipulated to establish communication between the loaded larry car means and the particular oven which is to be charged. Then the valves 34 are opened so that the charge will flow in to the oven. At the same time gases escape out through the connection means 24 along the pipes 38 and 40 to the combustion means 42 and then after combustion the gases are received in the gas-collecting means 50. Due to the combustion which takes place in the combustion means 42 the carbon monoxide in the gases is converted into carbon dioxide so that the gas will be inert for the purpose of further use of the gas. As a result of the adjustable pipe section 44 it is possible to place the larry car means in communication with the gas collecting means while it is also in communication with a selected oven 10, charging the latter while gases flowing out through the connection means 24 are collected in a gas collecting means 50.

As may be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the gas collecting means 50 communicates with a heat extracting means 52. The heat-extracting means 52 in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4 takes the form of a boiler in which the heat from the gas collected from the ovens is used to generate steam, as described in greater detail below. After flowing through the heat-extracting means 52 the gas flows through a cleaning means 54 which serves to clean the gas. This cleaning means 54 takes the form of a filter or dust collector in which solid particles are precipitated out of the gas while the gas is cleaned, and a similar collection means for particles may be situated at the bottom of the boiler 52. The cleaned gas is drawn through the system by way of an induced draft fan 56 which delivers the clean gas to the discharge stack 58. As a result of thes operations the gas from the oven is not only cooled but it is also cleaned and desulfurized before being discharged to the outer atmosphere.

Any gas which escapes to the interior of the enclosure means 18 flows upwardly through louvers 60 into an upper roof section 62 of the enclosure means 18, and from the section 62 the collected gas will flow into a second gascollecting means 64 in the form of an elongated pipe which forms an exhaust for the interior of the building formed by the enclosure 18. This second gas collecting means 54 also communicates with the heat extracting means 52, as is apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4.

A plurality of standpipes 66 also communicate with the interiors of the ovens 10 through the floor 16. Although only one row of standpipes 66 is provided with the construction shown in FIG. 1, it is to be understood that a pair of rows of standpipes may be situated along opposite sides of the battery 12, as indicated in FIG. 4. These standpipes 66 at one of both sides of the coke oven battery 12 communicate respectively with enclosures 68 which in turn have upper pipes 70 communicating with an elongated pipe 72 forming a gas main for collecting at least part of the gas flowing out of the ovens through the standpipes 66, so that the pipe 72 forms a third gascollecting means for collecting gas which flows out of the ovens through a path different from the connection means 24. This gas-collecting means 72 also communicates with the heat-extracting means 52, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. It is to be understood that where a pair of rows of standpipes are provided then both of the pipes 72, illustrated in FIG. 4, will communicate with the heat-extracting means 52. In this connection it is to be noted that it is also possible to provide pipes 70' which have a tangential connection with the main 72', as shown in FIG. 6, to achieve a whirling fiow in'this case also.

In the particular example illustrated in FIG. 4 there is a combustion means 74 situated between the gas mains .50 and 72 and the heat-extracting means 52 so that the gas will be burned prior to passing through the heat-extracting means 52, and particularly when used with such a combustion means the tangential connection of FIGS. 5 and 6 are desirable so that the gas will have a whirling flow. It is to be understood that the gas-collecting means 64 may also communicate with the combustion means 74 rather than directly with the heat-extracting means 52, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

Thus, with the method and apparatus of the invention gas is simultaneously collected from three sources, namely the connection means 24, the standpipes 66, and the interior of the enclosure 18, and all of the collected gas is cleaned by the cleaning means 54 before being discharged to the outer atmosphere through the stack 58. Before reaching the cleaning means 54, however, heat is extracted from the gas by way of the boiler 52.

As is indicated schematically in FIG. 3, feedwater, to be converted into steam, is delivered to the interior of a steam drum 76 from which the feedwater flows through a supply pipe 78 to the boiler 52, and from the latter the steam returns through a pipe 80 to the steam drum 76 to discharge therefrom to any desired location where the steam is to be used.

According to a further important feature of the invention, a heat extracting means is provided for extracting heat from the gases flowing upwardly through the interiors of the standpipe means 66. As is indicated in FIG. 1, the enclosure 68 which initially receives gas from each standpipe 66 is provided with a tiltable valve or defletcor blade 82 which enables a selected portion of the gas to flow to the gas collecting means 72 while another selected portion thereof will flow to an enclosure 84 which communicates through a pipe 86 with a coke gas collecting pipe 88 communicating with a by-product plant to which the coke gas is delivered from the pipe 88. The pipe 86 may be provided with an adjustable valve 90 for controlling the rate of flow of coke gas into the pipe 88, and, if desired, a water spray device may be provided at any suitable location such as the upper right corner of the closure 84, for example, to be used for emergency purposes.

However, according to an important feature of the present invention the gas flowing through each standpipe 66 is first cooled very substantially by a heat-extracting means before the gas reaches the enclosure 68, so that a relatively cool gas is received by the gas-collecting means 72 as well as by the coke gas main 88. Because of this heat-extracting means which extracts heat from the gases flowing through the standpipes, the temperature of the gas in the standpipes is reduced to such an extent that problems in connection with cooling of the gases by water sprays, for example, are completely avoided, and thus water contaminated with phenol does not present any problem with the present invention.

The heat-extacting means which coacts with the standpipe means 66 takes the form of jackets 92 which surround each staudpipe 66. At their lower ends the several jackets 92 communicate through suitable tubes with a feedwater header 94 which is also supplied with feedwater from the drum 76, as is apparent from FIG. 3. The feedwater delivered in this way to the several jackets 92 is converted into steam which flows upwardly through the jackets to be received in a steam-collecting header 96 which communicates with upper regions of the several jackets 92 to a plurality of pipes 98, respectively. This steam-collecting pipe 96 delivers the steam also to the steam drum 76 from where the steam is taken for any desired purpose. As is apparent from FIG. 4, when there are two rows of standpipes the heat-extracting means is also provided on both sides. Thus, through this generation of steam with heat extracted from the gas flowing through the standpipes, through a path different from that through the connection means 24, not only is use made of the energy in the hot gas, but in addition the hot gas is cooled to such an extent that problems encountered conventionally in cooling the gas with water, with result in contamination of the water, are avoided.

The embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in FIG. 7 is identical with that of FIGS. 1-4 except that instead of a heat-extracting means 52 in the form of a boiler, there is provided a heat-extracting means 98 in the form of a coal dryer. Thus, as is schematically illustrated in FIG. 7, the ovens of the battery 12 communicate through standpipes with the gas-collecting means 72 which delivers the gas to the combustion means 74. The combustion means 42 behind the larry car is also schematically represented in FIG. 7 for communication with the gas-collecting means 50. FIG. 7 also shows the gas-collecting means 64 which collects the gas from the interior of the enclosure means 18. Thus, all of the collected gas is first burned by the combustion means 74 be fore reaching the coal-drying means 98, and of course the gas flowing through the connection means 24 is preliminarily burned by the combustion means 42. It is to be understood that with an arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1-4, for example, it may be desirable to use only the combustion means 42 and not the combustion means 74, while for other purposes such as that shown in FIG. 7, the combustion means 74 may be desirable without the combustion means 42, although it is also possible to use both of these combustion means simultaneously, as indicated in the drawings.

Wet coal is delivered in a known Way to the interior of the enclosure which forms the coal-drying means 98, and the burned gas discharging from the combustion means 74 is directed upwardly through this enclosure, through a screen on which the coal is supported, so that a fluidized bed of coal is formed while being preliminarily dried by the gas collected from the three sources in connection with charging of the ovens of the battery 12. After flowing through the coal-drying means 98 which forms the heat-extracting means for the collected gas of the embodiment of FIG. 7, the gas is delivered to the gascleaning means 54 and then the induced draft fan 56 which creates the flow of gas through the entire system operates to deliver the gas to the stack 58 from which it discharges in a cleaned and desulfurized condition. The tangential connections of FIGS. 5 and 6 are of particular significance with an embodiment such as that of FIG. 7 inasmuch as burning in the combustion means 74 is enhanced through this expedient. In addition the burning of the gas is of considerable importance with this particular embodiment because the changing of the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide makes the gas relatively inert for a purpose such as drying the coal in the coal-drying means 98. The coal which is dried in the coal drying means 98 is then delivered through a suitable conveyer, for example, to the storage bins from which the coal is taken by the larry car means 20, so that in this way the larry car means 20 will deliver a preliminarily dried coal to the coke ovens for enhancing the operations.

In addition it is to be noted that because of the heatextracting means formed by the jackets around the several standpipes, there is no necessity of disposing of water which is contaminated with phenol, and for this purpose it is unnecessary to rely on undesirable wet-quenching of the hot coke discharged from the several ovens. Thus the cooling of the gases with the method and apparatus of the invention brings about the possibility of using dry-quenching to achieve all of the advantages of this latter type of coke cooling.

What is claimed is:

1. In a method for pollution-free charging of coke ovens, the steps of providing connections between a larry car and a coke oven for charging the latter through the connections, simultaneously collecting gas which escapes through said connections, simultaneously collecting gas which escapes from the interior of the coke oven through a pipe along a path different from said connections, simultaneously collecting gas from an enclosure defining a space over the coke ovens in which the larry car is located, so that gas is simultaneously collected from three sources, namely, the larry car connections, the interior of a coke oven, and the space over the coke oven, cleaning all of the gas collected from said three sources, and then discharging the cleaned gas to the outer atmosphere.

2. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of burning the gas escaping through the larry car connections.

3. In a method as recited in claim 2 and wherein the burning of the gas escaping through the larry car connections is carried out prior to collecting the latter gas.

4. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of burning all of the collected gas prior to cleaning thereof.

5. In a method as recited in claim 4 and including the step of extracting heat from the burned gas prior to cleaning thereof.

6. In a method as recited in claim and wherein the. step of extracting heat from the burned gas is carried out by drying coal with the burned gas prior to charging of the latter coal into a coke oven.

7. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of extracting the heat from the gas escaping from the interior of a coke oven by a path different from the larry car connections prior to collection of the latter gas.

8. In a method as recited in claim 7 and wherein the extraction of 'the heat is carried out by generating steam with the gas which escapes from the interior of the coke oven.

9. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of extracting heat from all of the collected gas prior to cleaning thereof.

10. In a method as recited in claim 9 and including the step of generating steam from all of the collected gas prior to cleaning thereof.

11. In an apparatus for carrying out pollution-free charging of coke ovens, a coke oven battery having a series of coke ovens which are to be periodically charged, larry car means situated over the coke oven battery for periodically charging the ovens, connection means opera tively connected with said larry car means and a selected coke oven for providing communication between said larry car means and a coke oven which is to be charged, first gas-collecting means communicating with said connection means for collecting gas which escapes through the latter, standpipe means communicating with the coke ovens, second gas-collecting means communicating with said standpipe means for collecting gas which escapes therethrough from the interior of the coke oven, enclosure means enclosing the space over the coke oven battery in which the larry car means is located, third gas-collecting means communicating with the interior of said enclosure means for collecting gas from the interior of said enclosure means, gas-cleaning means communicating with said first, second, and third gas-collecting means for cleaning the gas collected thereby, and discharge means communicating with said cleaning means for discharging to the outer atmosphere gas which has been cleaned by said cleaning means.

12. The combination of claim 11 and wherein a combustion means is operatively connected between said connection means and first gas-collecting means for burning gas escaping through said connection means prior to collection of the later gas by said first gas-collecting means.

13. The combination of claim 11 and wherein a combustion means is situated between said first, second, and third gas-collecting means and said gas cleaning means for burning the collected gas prior to cleaning thereof.

14. The combination of claim 13 and wherein a heatextracting means is situated between and communicates with said combustion means and gas-cleaning means for extracting heat from the burned gas prior to cleaning thereof.

15. The combination of claim 14 and wherein said heatextracting means is a coal dryer in which coal' dried with the burned gas prior to delivery of the coal to e larry car means to be charged into ovens of the coke oven battery.

16. The combination of claim 11 and wherein a heatextracting means is operatively connected with said standpipe means for extracting heat from the gases escaping therethrough prior to collection of the latter gases by said second gas-collecting means. I

17. The combination of claim 16 and wherein said heat extracting means includes a jacket means surrounding said standpipe means, feedwater supply means communicating with said jacket means for feeding thereto water to be converted into steam during extraction of heat from gases flowing through the standpipe means, and a steamcollecting pipe means also communicating with said jacket means for collecting from the interior thereof steam which is generated therein.

18. The combination of claim 11 and wherein a heatextracting means communicates with said first, second, and third gas-collecting means and with said gas-cleaning means between the latter and said first, second, and third gas-collecting means for extracting the heat from all of the collected gas prior to cleaning of the latter gas.

19. The combinaion of claim 18 and wherein said heatextracting means includes a steam-generating means in which steam is generated from the collected gas prior to cleaning thereof.

20. The combination of claim 11 and wherein said standpipe means includes a plurality of upright pipes and said second-gas-collecting means includes a horizontal pipe communicating with said upright pipes, said upright pipes having a tangential connection with said horizontal pipe.

21. The combination of claim 11 and wherein said first gas-collecting means includes a horizontal collecting pipe and a plurality of vertical pipes extending from said horizontal pipe and communicating therewith to be selectively placed in communication with said connection means, said vertical pipes each having atangential connection with said horizontal pipe.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,824,483 9/1931 Hubmann et al. 214-18 PH 3,613,913 10/1971 Knappstein 202263 3,630,852 12/1971 Nashan et al. 202229 3,647,053 3/1972 Palumbo 20140 3,548,845 12/1970 Ogi et al 981l5 R 2,907,263 10/1959 Muller 98-115 R WILBUR L. BASCOMB, Jn., Primary Examiner D. EDWARDS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

